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. . 3, Municipal water use would be added as an authorized purpose of use, The ''Notice of Petition" contains background infonnation regarding the proposed long-tenn transfer and the State Water Resource Control Board's authority regarding the petition, Comments on this petition must be submitted to the State Water Resources Control Board by December IS, 1998; however, since the draft Environmental Impact ReportlEnvironmental Impact Statement (EIRlEIS) will not be completed until late 2000, supplemental materials may be filed up to 90 days after the draft EIRlEIS is issued. As you are aware, the IID/SDCW A proposed water conservation/transfer program is one of the core transfers included in the the Board's December 17, 1997, draft California 4.4 Plan, On November 13, 1998, Reclamation met with representatives from the Colorado River Basin states and the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) to discuss its studies regarding improvement of the salinity and reliability of flows delivered to Mexico at the Southerly International Boundary (SIB), During the meeting, Commissioner Bemal ofIBWC indicated that Mexico continues to raise concerns regarding: . The fluctuation of the salinity levels of the water delivered at the SIB, and . The desire to have all of its water delivered at the Northerly International Boundary. Commissioner Bemal further indicated that the federal agencies are focusing on these issues and it is his desire to keep the discussions in the technical arena, rather than allowing them to move into the political arena. In early 1999, IBWC will meet with its counterpart from Mexico to discuss these issues raised by Mexico. It is IBWC's position that all of the tenns of the United States agreements with Mexico are being met. However, there may be something that can be done to address these issues that is acceptable to the United States. ' During the meeting, representatives from Reclamation indicated that several studies to address concerns regarding the salinity concentrations at the SIB have been conducted, Currently water delivered to Mexico at the SIB comes from drains and waste ways from the Yuma area as well as water pumped from the Minute 242 well field, The salinity of the drainage water is approximately 1,400 ppm, but at times there are spikes in the salinity concentrations that reach 1,800 ppm. An objective of Reclamation's studies was to continue to deliver 140,000 acre-feet of water at the SIB at a salinity concentration of I ,200 ppm. From the studies that were conducted by Reclamation, the pool of alternatives was narrowed to three alternatives, Within the three alternatives, the first two steps to be taken to address the salinity spikes are the same, These steps include: I) replace the existing stage pumps at the Boundary Pumping Plant with variable pumps and 2) construct a direct diversion from the Yuma Main Drain to the Bypass Drain that currently delivers drainage water from the Wellton-Mohawk area to the Santa Clara Slough. During the meeting, the states' representatives indicated that further infonnation describing the proposal was needed along with more time to evaluate the alternatives. Based upon that discussion, Reclamation will provide additional infonnation on the alternatives being considered within a couple of weeks and will hold another meeting with the Basin State representatives on December 16, 1998, in Las Vegas, Nevada. 4